


no bite

by spacetriangles



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: I Don't Even Know, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Surreal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 15:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13720473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacetriangles/pseuds/spacetriangles
Summary: Soonyoung is stuck in an empty store in an even emptier mall when a customer walks in.





	no bite

**Author's Note:**

> warning: there's like a teeny tiny amount of blood in this but its just like a nosebleed. also, this whole thing might be kind of hard to follow but that's how I intended it to be so I'm sorry in advance hahah.
> 
> good luck trying to figure out what's going on I guess

Soonyoung stands at the counter of the tea shop that he works at. It’s late, but not that late, though late enough for stores to be closing in an hour or so. This store is located inside of a mall though. Nobody is inside of this store. There is nobody walking outside, inside the mall, either. He feels isolated, despite how spacious it seems out there, and the door is wide open.

He doesn’t know if he hates this or not. On one hand, his feet hurt and he’s bored out of his mind, the only thing keeping him company is the eerie and somewhat distorted mall music, which sometimes plays really old hits and sometimes songs that he’s never even heard before. Although, he’s heard them all by this point. Anyway, on the other hand, he’s pretty much getting payed to stand around and do nothing, which he greatly prefers over actually working.

It just really sucks though. He’s wasting his youth. You can’t have much of a youth without money though. He has no choice.

This is kind of like his personal hell.

He has no choice but to smile at the customer who walks in, who doesn’t even bother returning his smile. Cool. Whatever. The dude looks like he’s probably around his own age, and his gaze is as dead as Soonyoung’s so he gets a free-pass for being rude, not just because he’s kind of cute.

When he sees the customer walk farther away from the counter and deeper in the store, he lets out a pained sigh, because he’s so tired and did he mention that he’s also bored. He’s already done everything that needed to be done so now the only thing he could do is just rearrange some containers, but there’s just no point to it.

The bright white fluorescent lights are starting to get on his nerves. Does it make sense to feel like everything is dark even when the whole space is lit up? Something just feels so off about it. Maybe his brain doesn’t register it as real light because it’s not daylight. Maybe that’s like actually a thing that humans evolved with, or at least Soonyoung.

He’s only been here for four hours, but it really feels like he’s been here for at _least_ seven. His shift isn’t even over yet. There’s a bit over fifty minutes to go.

Soonyoung groans as that one song that he hates starts playing over the speakers. The only thing keeping him somewhat sane is the occasional sounds the customer makes from the other end of the shop. Soonyoung wonders what that guy’s life is like and why he’s here on this Tuesday night. Not many people shop at this mall, it’s more of an area that you cross to get from one place to another as the mall just connects other, more important, buildings together, and it’s mostly just people dressed in business attire that do pass through. 

Soonyoung wonders if he should go over and ask if the guy is looking for something, but with how it’s already been a while and with how quiet it is, he’d feel too weird.

Why does everything seem so blue? Light blue, more specifically. Or rather white with a blue glow, yeah. It’s kind of sickening. Soonyoung thinks that white and blue are nice colors, even though white isn’t actually a color _, he knows, Jihoon._ Why does he feel this dizzy right now because of them? It’s the fluorescent lights, burning into his retina. Something about these lights are just begging him to go to sleep. He’d have an easier time falling asleep with these lights rather than in complete darkness.

He’s horny. The thought pops into his head completely randomly, but it’s true. Why? Why does he have to be horny now of all times? It must be because he’s so bored. His brain is so deprived of entertainment that it’s decided to make its own fun. His thoughts wonder to the guy in the store, who Soonyoung isn’t sure he’s still around with how silent it is, but he hasn’t seen him walk out, unless he was completely out of it when it happened. He might have been. He’s pretty sure he is.

He walks away from behind the counter to inspect the store, and sure enough, the guy is still standing there, in front of an aisle of travel mugs. That’s it though. He’s just standing there, completely frozen. Soonyoung isn’t even sure if he’s blinking or not, and he feels a shiver run up his spine.

He stares at him, and keeps staring at him, and the guy doesn’t move one bit and it just drives Soonyoung to stare harder and longer, because nothing is happening and it’s so fascinating to him. Nothing is happening and it’s the most interesting thing that he’s experienced in a while. It’s thrilling. How long is he going to keep staring? How long is the guy going to stand still? Is the guy aware that he’s just standing there? Is he dead? Is he okay?

Soonyoung has to rip his eyes off of the figure to go up to him and ask, “Are you okay?” When he asks, it feels like something was shattered. It feels like his voice tore through some thin transparent layer of who knows what covering them. He cringes, but it’s too late now.

The guy seems to have been brought back into the present, and he slowly turns to look Soonyoung right in the eyes. The way that movement was executed was way too eerie for Soonyoung, and his hands start shaking a little bit.

“Oh,” says a deep voice. Soonyoung registers a second later than he should have that it belongs to the guy in front of him. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he says robotically. He blinks robotically.

“Are you sure?” Soonyoung asks him just as robotically.

“Yes,” he answers, and his answer is final. “I was just,” he pauses. He pauses for too long and it’s probably not even considered a pause anymore, but for some reason, in his heart, Soonyoung gets it. “I was just,” he repeats himself, eyes somewhat glazed over, “you know.”

“Yeah,” Soonyoung answers. “I know.” He smiles at the guy slowly. “Me too.”

The guy returns the smile and turns back to stare at the travel mugs, but Soonyoung doesn’t read that as a sign to leave. In fact, it feels like he’s being invited to keep him company. He doesn’t even need to be asked, which is good, because he hasn’t been.

“My name is Wonwoo,” the guy says. “Your name must be Soonyoung.”

Soonyoung feels another shiver. “How would you know that?”

Wonwooo smiles, and after a moment turns back to Soonyoung and points his right finger right at Soonyoung’s heart, which feels like it’s being pierced by an icicle. “You’re wearing a nametag.”

“Oh,” Soonyoung breathes out and looks down to where Wonwoo is pointing. “That’s true,” he says and giggles.

They aren’t pressed against each other, but Soonyoung has a vision. He has a vision where it’s dark, but there’s some light leaking into his view. The lights are darker hues, like blue and purple. He feels a hand pressed against his chest and feels a wall against his back. There’s a pair of lips on his neck and his hand is grabbing onto a handful of hair. There’s muffled music playing somewhere in the distance, but this music is good, unlike the torture that he’s submitted to at work.

Soonyoung lets go of the hair and cups Wonwoo’s face in his hands, bringing him closer to his face and gently kissing his cheek. Wonwoo kisses his back, then he proceeds to bite it, which is weird but okay.

“Hey,” Wonwoo says and Soonyoung snaps out of it. The fluorescent lights are back. “Why do you keep staring at me?”

He’s still horny, Soonyoung realizes. “You’re kind of hot,” he states honestly, because none of this seems quite real anyway.

Wonwoo’s eyes widen, then he blushes and turns away. “Thank you,” he stutters. “I’m really not used to being complimented by strangers.”

He doesn’t know where this confidence is coming from, but Soonyoung replies, “I’m not used to seeing strangers as good looking as you.”

Wonwoo becomes hard to distinguish between the fluorescent lights. His body somewhat _becomes_ the fluorescent lights, but his eyes stay in place. “Then you better get used to it,” he mutters.

Soonyoung doesn’t know what he means by that, and he finds himself too nervous to ask. He reaches his hand out to Wonwoo, who grabs it, and the fluorescence leaks into his palm. He brings his hand up to his mouth and pours the contents into his mouth. It tastes like citrus. Soonyoung’s cheeks start burning and it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore his dizziness.

“Are you okay?” Wonwoo asks, mirroring Soonyoung from only a few minutes ago.

“Oh,” Soonyoung says. “Yeah, I’m fine.”  He smiles at Wonwoo.

Wonwoo smiles back. “Are you sure?” he asks Soonyoung, just in case.

Soonyoung isn’t going through all of this again. He yanks on Wonwoo’s arm and brings him closer to himself. “Stop that,” he commands into Wonwoo’s ear.

“Make me,” Wonwoo bites back.

They stare into each other’s eyes heatedly before Soonyoung remembers who he is and where they are. He lets go of Wonwoo and says, “I hate how easy it is for you to manipulate me.”

Wonwoo smirks. “Do you? It really doesn’t seem like you want to put up much of a fight. You’re always all bark no bite. You’re an obedient bitch.”

Soonyoung’s body starts heating up and he briskly walks away. He walks as far as he can, but the fluorescent lights still follow him. Wonwoo still follows him. Wonwoo always follows him even when he’s not there, because Soonyoung can never quite escape from this man, never has been able to, and he doesn’t think that he ever will be free from him.

He’s about to walk into a darker room, before Wonwoo calls out, “Soonyoung. Come back here.” He stops in his tracks and turns around to look back at where Wonwoo is sitting on the couch. The lighting is orange now, and this living room is cozy. Soonyoung has many fond memories here.

“Why should I?” he huffs and crosses his arms over his chest.

Wonwoo looks at him with a pout and it’s damn adorable. “I didn’t mean to upset you, it was just harmless teasing.” Soonyoung rolls his eyes, but he nonetheless waddles back to him. He plops down next to Wonwoo and wraps his arms around him, nuzzling his face into his chest. Wonwoo brings a hand up and runs it through Soonyoung’s hair, eliciting a sigh from him.

“You’re so dumb,” Soonyoung mutters.

Soonyoung stands behind the counter. He squats down for a bit in hopes of getting a tiny bit of rest from it, but he has to watch the customer in the store so he comes back up.

Wonwoo has moved aisles and is lethargically looking from one item to another. It’s like he’s actually analyzing everything one by one. Soonyoung envies his patience. He turns around to look elsewhere, but ends up getting lost in thought. When he turns back to where Wonwoo was standing, he’s not there anymore, and there are no noises to indicate his presence. In fact, there’s no noises in general. No music is playing anymore, and he can’t hear the occasional faint footsteps coming from the rest of the mall.

It’s silent. It’s so deafly silent. Soonyoung is not a big fan of silence, especially not right here and not right now. He walks out from behind the counter once again, but there’s no sound of that either. He can’t even hear his own breathing. He goes through the small aisles and finds Wonwoo sitting against a wall, scrolling on his phone.

“What are you doing here?” Soonyoung asks him. A fresh and cool breeze hits him, the kind that he enjoys the most, and some birds are chirping in the background.

“Hiding from the sun,” Wonwoo replies dully, not glancing up from his screen. Soonyoung hums in response and goes to sit next to him against the brick wall.

He looks around and notes that the park is void of anyone. “Why don’t you just stay inside, then?”

“Too many people. Also, I need some fresh air. All of these assignments are starting to get to my head.” He turns his screen off and places his phone against his lap before looking back up at his friend. “Why are _you_ out here?”

“I was looking for you,” Soonyoung replies truthfully and innocently.

Wonwoo sighs and leans his head against the wall. “Why does it seem like you’re always looking for me?” he asks

“Why do you always make yourself so hard to find?” Soonyoung retorts.

“I don’t make myself this way,” he answers simply.

They sit quietly, listening to the chirping birds and distant traffic. Soonyoung wishes that he’d feel a breeze hit him, but the wall is probably blocking it. He sighs and let’s himself relax, releasing the tension in his body as he leans against Wonwoo, and the other boy lets him, which he is thankful for.

A sharp pain travels through Soonyoung’s body before he realizes that he’s hit his nose against the cold floor. “Fuck,” he grumbles.

Wonwoo appears from behind an aisle and has concern written all over his face. “Dude, you good?” he asks, holding a bag of some sort of fruity tea.

“No,” Soonyoung replies and rubs his nose, only to notice that it’s bleeding.

“Holy shit,” he hears Wonwoo say. “I knew this was a bad idea.” He runs over to Soonyoung and helps him get off the cement and leads him back to the sidewalk.

Soonyoung looks down and sees that he’s scraped his palms and knees. If he weren’t wearing ripped jeans, his knees might have stayed intact. “Wonwoo, what happened?”

“Oh my god, you’re a dumbass. Let me see if I have anything in my bag.” Wonwoo runs back to where his bag is placed. He rummages through it and whips out a pack of band aids and tissues before running back to Soonyoung. “I don’t have any disinfectant, but this will have to do for now.” He shoves the tissues in Soonyoung’s hands before he kneels down and starts opening bandages to apply on Soonyoung’s knees.

Soonyoung feels his cheeks heat up a bit as he shoves a tissue into his nose. “It burns,” he says with a nasally voice.

“No shit it burns,” Wonwoo grumbles after standing back up. “I told you that you weren’t made to skateboard.”

Soonyoung giggles. “It was worth a shot though! Although I didn’t think that my amazing body would fail me  _this_ badly,” he admits.

Wonwoo rolls his eyes and says, “Don’t get too cocky. Just cause you’re starting to get recognition for your dance skills doesn’t mean you’re some sort of super athlete.” He puts the band aid pack back into his bag. “Let’s head back, the sun is setting.”

Soonyoung laughs. “What, you have to be back before the sun sets? You got a curfew, Jeon Wonwoo?” he teases him, but starts following Wonwoo back nonetheless. “We should stay outside and admire the sunset, though,” he adds after a little while of walking.

Wonwoo pauses and looks up at the sky. The shades of pink and orange and purple and blue are mixing around together, but Soonyoung prefers to stare at them through the reflection on Wonwoo’s round glasses. If he stares harder, he might be able to see them in his eyes. If he were an artist, he’d probably itching to grab some paint and recreate the scene in front of him, but he isn’t, so he just silently admires his friend.

“Maybe,” Wonwoo answers hesitantly. “Let’s just stop by my house first to disinfect your wounds.”

Soonyoung never does end up getting to watch the sunset that evening, because he can suddenly hear the sounds coming from the mall again.

“Do you need help getting up?” Wonwoo asks him, bag of tea still in hands. Soonyoung notes that he wasn’t bleeding, also his knees and palms don’t burn.

“I’m fine,” he gets back up and looks at Wonwoo for a second before returning back to the counter. Wonwoo follows him and places the bag he was holding on top of the counter. Soonyoung eyes it for a moment before realizing that Wonwoo was attempting to make a purchase. “Is this going to be all?” he asks as he scans the item and places it into a bag.

“No,” Wonwoo answers.

“You never let me have any fun,” Soonyoung complains. “Why can’t you ever live a little?”

“I don’t know what your definition of living is, but I personally don’t think that trying to sneak up to the school’s rooftop is that thrilling. You’re just going to get yourself into unnecessary trouble and I definitely don’t want anything to do with it,” Wonwoo says while putting his books back into his locker.

“Wonwoo,” Soonyoung whines. “Please, it’ll be romantic, just like in the animes.”

The taller boy scoffs and says, “What makes you think that I want to experience anything romantic with you?”

“You don’t?” Soonyoung asks with an exaggerated sadness in his voice. “And here I thought that I would finally be able to confess to you up on that rooftop,” he says dramatically. They both chuckle before Soonyoung adds, “No, seriously, come on dude.”

Wonwoo groans and replies, “It’s probably locked anyway. How do you even expect to get there?”

“With determination.”

Wonwoo sighs as he leans against the rail of the stairway leading to the rooftop, because of course Soonyoung made him tag along anyway. The said boy is struggling with the locked door and is trying his best to get it open, which obviously doesn’t work.

“I told you so,” Wonwoo says. “I tell you a lot, come to think of it,” he ponders out loud. “Do you ever listen to me, though?”

“If I listened to you neither of us would ever be having any fun,” Soonyoung answers.

“This is fun to you?”

“Sure, it is.” He let’s go of the doorknob and turns back to look at Wonwoo. “As long as we both get to do things that others don’t usually do, it’s fun.” He smiles sweetly.

Wonwoo has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Why don’t you think of another cool place to hang out that we can actually access and maybe I’ll come along.”

Soonyoung snorts, because he knows Wonwoo definitely _will_ come along.

He watches Wonwoo’s back as he heads toward the store’s exit after making his purchase, and his heart twists a little bit. “Wait,” he calls out. Wonwoo stops and turns to look at him, a questioning look in his eyes.

“Um,” Soonyoung hesitates. “I know this is a weird request, but could you stay with me until I have to close the store?” Wonwoo blinks at him. “Unless, of course, you have to be somewhere right now. You know what? Never mind. Forget I asked.”

“Sure,” Wonwoo says.

“Oh.” Soonyoung rubs the back of his neck nervously. “Thanks.”

“You know I’d stay with you for as long as you want me to,” Wonwoo walks over to him and gently kisses Soonyoung’s forehead over the counter.

Soonyoung melts and grabs Wonwoo’s hoodie to pull him closer so that he can land a kiss on his mouth. “I know,” he answers after pulling away. “You know I’d do the same for you.”

“I know,” Wonwoo mirrors.

They never end up leaving, but that’s fine because Soonyoung has grown accustomed to the lame mall music and burning fluorescent lights. At night, they would have walked home together, Soonyoung would have felt confident enough to hold Wonwoo’s hand the whole way back.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know your interpretations of this if you'd like! i'm very curious to see is anyone can come up with an explanation for this cause i can't
> 
> also!!! i made [a simple beat](https://soundcloud.com/sunshowered/wherever-you-are) loosely based off of this fic so check that out if you want


End file.
